Law &Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 18 Premiere - Wednesday, September 21st at 9pm ET/8pm CT

ABOUT THE SHOW
Created by Emmy Award-winning producer Dick Wolf, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, now in its 17th season, is the longest-running primetime drama currently on television. This hard-hitting and emotional series from NBC's Law & Order brand chronicles the life and crimes of the Special Victims Unit of the New York City Police Department, an elite squad of detectives who investigate sexually based crimes.

As acting commander of the SVU, Sergeant Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is a seasoned veteran of the unit who has seen it all. She leads with empathy and professionalism, all the while dealing with her difficult past as a product of rape, and her future as mother to a young child, both of which influence the way she relates to each victim in need of help.

Hargitay garnered eight Emmy nominations for Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Olivia Benson, and won the 2006 Emmy for that category. She has received six SAG nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, two Golden Globe nominations for Lead Actress in a Drama Series, winning the award in 2005, and has won three Gracie Allen Awards for Outstanding Female Lead in 2004, 2009 and 2014. In 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice T) adds a unique sense of humor and undercover investigative experience, making him a formidable match for any partner. Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) has earned her place as an integral part of the team while facing head-on the emotional toll it takes to work SVU, and Detective Dominick "Sonny" Carisi (Peter Scanavino) brings a fresh outlook and distinctive style of investigation to the squad. Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza) seeks justice for SVU's victims and survivors with precision and a passion to win.

In 2015, SVU won the Imagen Foundation Award for Best Primetime Program, recognizing the positive portrayal of Latinos in media. The series was honored with the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 2012, along with Ice T for Outstanding Actor (2002) and Delroy Lindo for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama (2010). Fourteen episodes of SVU were nominated for the Prism Award and six have won, recognizing their accurate depiction of substance abuse and mental illness. Three episodes have been nominated by the GLAAD Media Awards for outstanding representation of the LGBT community, and the show was honored with 10 Edgar Allan Poe award nominations and two wins for Best Television episode.

The Law & Order brand has tremendous global appeal and to date, SVU has been sold to over 250 territories around the world.

CASTMain Characters
Lieutenant Olivia Benson
Played by Mariska Hargitay
A detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit, which investigates sex crimes. She is primarily partnered with Elliot Stabler, until he retires after Season 12. She is tough, empathetic, and completely dedicated to her job, to the point that she is sometimes seen as having little personal life. Her dedication sometimes wreaks havoc on her emotional state as she empathizes with victims of sexual assault, having been the child of rape and later the victim of sexual assault while undercover in Season 9. She has allowed her compassion for victims of abuse to sometimes cloud her professional judgment and impede her ability to remain impartial. Hargitay has received both a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Benson.

In Season 13, Detectives Benson and Tutuola are the senior detectives in the precinct. Throughout the first few episodes of Season 13, she struggles to cope with the retirement of Stabler as she is more harsh and argumentative, as seen when she berates ADA Novak for "losing her nerve" after Novak said that Benson was "off." Her primary partner from Season 13 to 14 has been Nick Amaro, but is also seen working with Tutuola and Detective Amanda Rollins at times.

Upon the retirement of Sergeant Munch at the beginning of Season 15, Captain Cragen recommends to her that she should take the sergeant's exam, as she was now his second in command. In the episode, "Rapist Anonymous", she makes the announcement that she has passed the exam, officially making her a sergeant. After Cragen's retirement, she becomes acting commanding officer of SVU until she is subsequently promoted to Lieutenant in Season 17 and officially takes command of the unit. At the end of Season 15, she became a foster mother to Noah Porter, formally adopting him at the end of Season 16.

She is taken hostage midway through Season 17 ("Townhouse Incident"), but is rescued unharmed. Shortly thereafter, she begins a relationship with IAB Captain Ed Tucker.

Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola
Played by Ice T
A detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. He was raised in Harlem and he served in the United States Army, where he saw combat in Mogadishu. A former undercover narcotics detective, Tutuola replaced Monique Jeffries after she left the squad in 2000. He transferred out of narcotics after his partner was shot. He initially has a rocky relationship with his colleagues in SVU, especially his partner John Munch and Olivia Benson. He sees the world in black and white, with all criminals equally deserving of prison regardless of extenuating circumstances. He also keeps a tight rein on his emotions, refusing to talk about his problems or to admit that the grisly nature of his work often affects him. He rarely talks about his personal life, not revealing he has a son to his fellow detectives until the sixth season. As the series progresses, he becomes closer with Munch and even saves Benson from being raped while they were both undercover in Season 9. However, he also begins clashing more frequently with fellow detective Elliot Stabler. As of the Season 8 episode "Screwed", he is assigned Chester Lake as his new partner. After Lake kills a suspect, Stabler accuses Tutuola of tipping him off before he is taken into custody and checks his phone records. Tutuola admits he called Lake, but says he did not expect him to run. Stabler quasi-apologizes for not trusting him, but Tutuola dismisses his apology because he believes Stabler will always be the same "bulldog". Afterwards, he requests a transfer from the squad, however the man in charge of transfers is a former colleague of Tutuola's who holds a grudge against him. Tutuola resolves himself to being "stuck" and his captain, Don Cragen, orders him to investigate a case with Stabler, who he calls a "headcase" and "cranky-balls". As time has passed, Tutuola has again warmed to Stabler, a point proven in the Season 11 episode "Solitary", when a suspect throws Stabler off a roof, Tutuola nearly throttles the suspect for attacking his "friend".

After Lake's departure at the end of Season 9, Tutuola was again partnered with Sergeant Munch from Seasons 10 to 12, sometimes working alone or with Benson and Stabler when Munch was unavailable. Beginning in Season 13, Tutuola's primary partner is Detective Rollins.

Detective Amanda Rollins
Played by Kelli Giddish
A detective from Atlanta, Georgia, who moves to New York City to join the Special Victims Unit. Rollins appears to be a detective who is very anxious to do her job, often being told not to get ahead of herself by Detectives Benson and Amaro, and Captain Cragen. She appears to have a good rapport with her partner, Detective Tutuola, compared to his last new partner, Chester Lake. Shortly after transferring to NYC, Rollins deals with a serial rapist case that had a familiar twist for her. Rollins tries to prove to Benson and Amaro that the rapist originated in Atlanta and has come to New York for new prey, almost falling victim to him in an attempt to flush him out, since he took a preference to blonde and athletic women. When Rollins becomes distraught over a case where an actress is raped by one of the men in her life, Rollins asks Benson how she can trust any man after working this job. Benson reassures Rollins and tells her that she trusted her partner.

As for Rollins' personal life, little is mentioned of her off-duty life (although, being from Atlanta, she is a fan of the Braves, whose schedule she keeps on her refrigerator door); Amanda has mentioned that she has a sister, Kim, who has had psychotic and drug issues. Kim has also suffered repeated abuse by her ex-boyfriend. She says that while she was working in Atlanta, there was an accident that occurred that allowed for her to transfer to the SVU. Amanda also was exposed as a heavy gambler in the episode "Home Invasions". When Cragen discovered her problem, he threatened to take her badge, but decided to help instead—since he is a recovering alcoholic—by requiring her to attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings. Rollins' previously mentioned troubled sister, Kim (Lindsay Pulsipher), comes to New York in the Season 14 episode, "Friending Emily", causing problems for Amanda while she is trying to work a case. Later in the episode "Deadly Ambition", Kim returns to New York beaten by her ex-boyfriend Jeff and claiming to be pregnant (Later on she gives two versions of the supposed pregnancy; on one hand Amanda finds out she had lied about the pregnancy, Kim confessed that her period had been late causing her to think she was pregnant and on the other she tells Nick Amaro that she had lost the baby). When Amanda hears screams from inside her apartment, she finds Kim's ex-boyfriend attempting to rape Kim, and Amanda shoots and kills the man as he pulls a gun on her. After her initial interview with IAB Lt. Tucker, Kim changes her story, including revealing a life insurance policy on the ex-boyfriend with Amanda's name on it (later on it is revealed that Kim forged Amanda’s signature because she thought that it would look suspicious if she was the sole beneficiary). Kim's change of story from rape to accident is the result of finding out that neither she nor Amanda would get a penny from the insurance company if they found out that Jeff had died committing a crime. The supposed evidence of Amanda shooting Jeff in cold blood leads to Lt. Tucker arresting Amanda in Captain Cragen's office. The charges against Amanda are later dropped when Amaro tapes Kim confessing to setting Amanda up. Before Kim can be arrested, however, she steals everything from Amanda's apartment and disappears. In the episode "Poisoned Motive", Rollins is shot by a sniper in front of the precinct. Her shooting leads back to the daughter of Detective Tutuola's narcotics partner, who is out for revenge on the NYPD after her father was injured on the job by protecting Tutuola from a bullet.

In the Season 15 episode, "Rapist Anonymous", Rollins is caught in the middle of a case in which her friend from G.A. claims to have been raped. When the alleged rapist is killed, her friend is put on trial and Rollins' personal life is revealed on the stand. This proves too much for her to handle and she is seen gambling, smoking, and drinking in the final scene. Later in Season 15, she frequents an illegal casino ("Gambler's Fallacy") and is exposed as a cop by a 15-year old waitress whom Rollins and Benson had assisted in an earlier episode. The operators of the illegal casino threaten to out Rollins to Benson, and although Rollins comes clean to Fin, Benson is still outraged. Rollins eventually breaks up an art theft ring with the help of Lt. Declan Murphy, who was undercover as one of the casino operators.

In the Season 16 episode "Forgiving Rollins", it is revealed Rollins was raped by her commanding officer in Atlanta, Deputy Chief Charles Patton (Harry Hamlin) in 2010. This comes to light when Patton is in New York for a conference and is accused of rape by one of his APD detectives, Reese Taymor (Dreama Walker), at a Manhattan hotel.

Rollins is revealed to be pregnant in the two-part Season 17 opener when she is interviewing serial killer Dr. Greg Yates (Dallas Roberts). The father is revealed to be Declan Murphy, who came back to New York during Super Bowl weekend 2015 to infiltrate a sex trafficking ring. Rollins undergoes a difficult pregnancy before giving birth to a healthy baby girl, Jesse. Giddish was pregnant in real life and gave birth to a boy in October 2015.

Detective Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr.
Played by Peter Scanavino
Detective Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr. is introduced in the Season 16 premiere, "Girls Disappeared." He originally serves as Detective Amaro's temporary replacement when Amaro is reassigned to Queens. He has brief SVU experience in other boroughs, including Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Carisi gets off to a rough start with his new colleagues, coming off as blunt and insensitive during his initial meeting with Sergeant Benson and Detective Rollins. In the fifth episode of Season 16, it is revealed he has permanently joined the Manhattan SVU team and Scanavino is added to the opening credits. In the same episode, Carisi helps turn one suspect against another during the investigation of a pornstar's rape, earning him praise from Benson.

Carisi has three sisters, one of whom, Bella, gave birth to a baby girl just before Rollins gives birth to her daughter. He is seen to enjoy time spent with Rollins' daughter, Jesse, and Benson's adopted son, Noah. Carisi is a devout Roman Catholic and a graduate of Fordham Law School; he passed the bar exam at the end of Season 17 and considered taking a job with the Brooklyn district attorney's office, but chose to remain with the NYPD in the wake of the shooting death of Mike Dodds.

Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba
Played by Raúl Esparza
Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba is brought in at the behest of temporary SVU captain, Steven Harris (Adam Baldwin), when Barba requests a transfer from Brooklyn to Manhattan after he prosecutes two johns for raping a prostitute. Barba is a by-the-book headstrong prosecutor, who puts pressure on not only the detectives, but also the victims and witnesses. In his first case, he prosecutes a rape similar to a best selling erotic novel Twenty-Five Acts by Jocelyn Paley (Anna Chlumsky), who is the rape victim. Barba tells the detectives to uncover anything and everything about Paley and her attacker. After rushing to put Paley on the stand to testify, Barba and the detectives discover that Paley did not write the book, which forces Barba to get creative with the trial. When Barba exposes the defendant's viciousness by taunting him with a belt, the jury finds the defendant guilty.

ADA Barba goes head to head with the Suffolk County District Attorney, Pam James (Jane Kaczmarek), in the episode "Beautiful Frame", after a Manhattan rape victim is charged with murder of her ex-boyfriend in Suffolk County. Detective Benson questions the charges against the woman and gathers enough evidence for Barba to put another man on trial for the same murder, as Barba and James race to get a conviction before the other. Barba and the SVU detectives uncover a scandal within the Suffolk County DA's office, as one of James' investigators set the young woman up for the murder. Barba offers to spare James' office of more embarrassment as long as the investigator is convicted for the murder in Suffolk County.

In the episode, "Funny Valentine", Barba and the detectives have a tough time convincing pop star Micha Green to testify against her abusive boyfriend, hip-hop artist Caleb Bryant. After a shooting that kills her manager with Bryant as a suspect, Barba and Detective Benson convince Green to testify in the grand jury. But when she finally takes the stand, she tells Barba that her boyfriend was not at the scene and instead says Barba and Benson put those words in her mouth. After not being able to arrest Bryant, the couple flees on a vacation, where Green is ultimately found dead.

Towards the end of the fourteenth season, Barba becomes close with the squad, and they rely on his legal advice on many of their assigned cases. In the episode "Undercover Blue", Benson goes to Barba in an attempt to provide evidence that could potentially clear Cassidy's name. In the season finale "Her Negotiation", Rollins calls Barba in on a weekend for a class-B case, which turns into something more serious, which Barba takes to trial, but ultimately doesn't get his conviction.

Esparza was added to the opening credits in Season 15, making Barba the squad's fourth full-time ADA.